Orlando Ballet dancers pitch in for clean cause – recycling soap

Orlando Ballet volunteers at Clean the World

In a pay it forward gesture, the Orlando Ballet, which survives on patrons gifts, is volunteering for a day at Clean the World, a local nonprofit making a global impact by recycling soap and sending hygiene kits to third world countries.

In a pay it forward gesture, the Orlando Ballet, which survives on patrons gifts, is volunteering for a day at Clean the World, a local nonprofit making a global impact by recycling soap and sending hygiene kits to third world countries.

In a pay-it-forward gesture, members of the Orlando Ballet volunteered Monday for another nonprofit. Eleven dancers spent the day at Clean the World, a local organization that recycles soap discarded from hotels, reprocesses it, and distributes it to third world countries.

Every year 5 million people – including 3.5 million children under age 5 -- around the world die because they don't have something Americans not only take for granted, but also throw away by the tons, said Shawn Seipler, executive director and founder of Clean the World.

Simple hand washing could prevent these deaths from hygiene-related illnesses, most of which are common respiratory infections and diarrheal disease, Seipler said.

"The Orlando Ballet is a nonprofit and survives in large part on donations," said dancer Ani Boer of Orlando. "We appreciate what the community has done for us, and were looking for a way to give back."

They learned of the volunteer opportunity through Dr. Paul Skomsky, an Orlando dentist who leads a medical group that donates services to the ballet company and who also serves on the board of directors for Clean the World.

At the downtown headquarters, volunteers, on which the clean cause relies, sort through large bins of soap, separating bars from small bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion, all hotel castoffs. The products are then cleaned, repurposed and repackaged for distribution outside the states.

Some products are also assembled into hygiene kits that benefit local causes, such as the Orlando Rescue Mission.

Since the effort began five years ago, more than 10,000 volunteers have pitched in, Seipler said. Together they have sent 17 million bars of soap to 96 countries.

As the largest global recycler of hotel soaps and bottled amenities, Clean the World aims to turn waste that would otherwise clog our landfills into a life-saving alternative, he said.